as an amateur printer and someone who is studying the Georgian language, i've been interested in the history and development of Georgian typefaces. in particular, those in use before modern printing (e.g. digital) techniques came into vogue. over the years i've run into a few resources that touch on this topic, but most of what is found below is me piecing together the scattered bits and pieces found in books and on the internet.
to help aid in organizing this information, this page is loosely divided into two sections: chronology and letterforms. the chronology sections is an attempt to lay out the publication of books and other materials that are certain to have used metal type. this will also include figures of interest, as applicable. the letterforms section deals with the individual letters that make up the Georgian alphabet and the variations ones sees across printed materials. this is not unlike documenting the progressiong of single-story vs. double-story lowercase g. however, with many fewer typefaces and a much more constrained printing history this is a more achievable goal. you'll see below that there are only a few letters that have any meaningful variation in style.
a key
- 🔎 indicates that this is an area of incomplete research
chronology
- 1818, Manuale Tipografico, Giambattista Bodoni
honestly, kinda ugly. notable for oversized ა and დ, a weak ნ, but kind of a cute მ. - 🔎 (1956?) OUP has some mats made (monotype №587). there's a picture in the Matrix article Exotics of the OUP by David Wishart (issue no. ?). TODO: add image. note that M33, p142, ft1 does not list Georgian as a language that
letterforms
ა
full-height vs. x-height
- bodoni and diderot both have fullheight ა
ბ
- bodoni has a curl to the top of the ბ, haven't seen that elsewhere
გ
დ
ე
ვ
ზ
- many typefaces have a larger upper loop, not sure if this is worth nothing (cf. bodoni)
თ
ი
კ
ლ
მ
ნ
ო
tail vs. no tail
-
🔎 when does ო stop having such an elongated right tail?
-
tail
პ
2-story vs. 3-story
- 3-story
ჟ
რ
ს
ტ
უ
2-hump vs. 1-hump (see ყ)
- 2-hump
ფ
ქ
ღ
ყ
1-hump vs. no hump (see უ)
- 1-hump
შ
- many have the upper part extend leftward, as if a ligature, but i've not seen any indication that it is a ligature in any typefaces
ჩ
ც
ძ
წ
ჭ
ხ
ჯ
ჰ
3-hump vs. 4-hump (and a rare 5-hump in the diderot piece)